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Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan - Directors Edition (Two Disc Set) [1982]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Director Nicholas Meyer's concept for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was to make it "Captain Horatio Hornblower in space". Equipped with a budget a fraction the size of that accorded the first movie, and bolstered by James Horner's swashbuckling score, Meyer accordingly delivered the most exciting of all the Trek big-screen outings, referencing both CS Forester's Hornblower and classic submarine dramas, as well as adding some literary flourishes and ground-breaking CGI work for good measure (the Genesis device sequence is a computer-animation landmark).

Resurrected from the "Space Seed" episode of the TV series, Ricardo Montalban's Khan is the hammiest, most passionately alive Trek villain, infused with Captain Ahab's self-destructive single-mindedness and quoting Moby Dick and Shakespeare in his furious pursuit of Kirk. Given permission to be melodramatic, William Shatner has never been stronger, or made Kirk seem more vulnerable. And even after seeing all the later movies, no self-respecting Trekker can sit through Spock's ultimate illogical sacrifice with a dry eye.

Unlike the major revisions made to The Motion Picture, this new Director's Edition of Wrath of Khan is only a very slightly extended version of the original, with some fairly minor additions--most notably scenes that establish Midshipman Peter Preston as Scotty's nephew, thereby explaining Scotty's grief at the young man's death. Some other scenes--such as Kirk and Spock discussing the Genesis Device--have also been expanded.

On the DVD: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is now presented in a lovely 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen print with Dolby 5.1 sound. The first disc has an audio commentary from Nicholas Meyer, plus another fascinating all-you-ever-needed-to-know text commentary from Trek expert Michael Okuda (he did the same for The Motion Picture's DVD release). The second disc has a series of informative documentaries, the most substantial being a lengthy retrospective "Captain's Log", featuring contributions from Producer Harve Bennett, Meyer, Shatner, Nimoy and Montalban. Other featurettes focus on the production design ("Designing Khan"), "Visual Effects", and the writers of Star Trek novel spin-offs about Khan and the Kobayashi Maru ("The Star Trek Universe"). It's a shame that James Horner's major contribution goes unnoticed though. To round things off there are some promotional interviews from 1982, storyboards and the original trailer. --Mark Walker


A more action packed sequel.
Review date: 2008-07-04 Rating: 8 out of 10

The original movie was a decent film but in terms of action, not much really happens. Not so with the second Star Trek movie. For 'The Wrath of Khan' they bring back a great villian from the original TV series. The movie has dated a little but not too much as to spoil the film.

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Reviews


The best of Trek
Review date: 2008-02-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

This second Star Trek film is a vast improvement on the original movie and is widely considered to be one of the best Star Trek films ever made. The film sees the return of the eugenic tyrant Khan Noonien Singh who first appeared in the Original Series episode `Space Seed'. Having been driven mad by his exile too an abandoned planet Khan and his followers are rediscovered by the USS Reliant who are scouting uninhabited planets for an experiment terraforming process. Seizing the ship, Khan sets a trap for Kirk and the Enterprise so that he can finally get revenge after so many years of exile.

Although, out of the original crew films, I prefer `The Undiscovered Country', I would agree that this film is one of the best of the Star Wars series. The writing and direction are good and manage to make the film entertaining, exciting and emotional in equal measure. Although the main cast are as proficient as they usually are in their roles, the star of the film has to be Khan, brilliantly played by Ricardo Montalban who makes the character one of the greatest Star Trek villains of all time. `The Wrath of Khan is definitely on of the must haves of the Star Trek franchise.

If only all movies (and DVD commentaries) were like this
Review date: 2007-09-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

Stuff your Citizen Kane; this is the perfect movie.
Not the perfect Star Trek movie, the perfect movie.
Here's the proof:

Perfect for kids: things go boom and look good when they do. 20+ years later the models look better then a lot of CG. Plus, a bug crawls out of a giant rubber ear - genius!

Perfect for grown ups: there is a proper story with characters and everything. It may be a little meladramatic in places, but some of these performances are solid gold. Read the other reviews for ten tons of Ricardo Montleban-flavoured-love.

Perfect for studio execs: it made a ton of money and set up a francise. Nice.

Perfect for film buffs: the director commentary is the most interesting I've heard. As well as all the usual anecdotal stuff you expect, Nick Meyer talks about his theory of the creative process and directing in general. If ony the director of Star Trek Nemesis (the dodgy 2002 remake) had listened!
I have now watched this more times then the actual film. The making of documentaries are spot on too.

In all seriousness, this may not be the best movie ever made but it's the text book example of a timeless action adventure with a cross generational appeal. And best of all it's still entertaining all these years later, unlike the pap they make you watch in film studies. The special features in this edition are well worth the asking price and compliment the film perfectly as they have the same power to keep you coming back again and again.
2001 can kiss my Kobayashi Maru - Give me Wrath of Kahn!

Not As Good As The Motion Picture, But Still Top-Notch.
Review date: 2007-07-02 Rating: 8 out of 10

In my review of Star Trek The Motion Picture I made the claim that I am not a lover of the 'shoot-em-up' style of storytelling favouring more character based plots, now The Wrath Of Khan (TWOK) is unusual in that it has elements of both and as such is difficult for me to judge it correctly.
The film has been praised many times for saving the Trek franchise after the boringly slow excesses of the first film, I don't agree with that assessment and I never have, in my opinion The Motion Picture is superior to TWOK in many ways, however I do in fact like TWOK but I also think that it's reputation has been inflated over the years just for the simple fact that it followed The Motion Picture.

TWOK's major plus point is of course the return of Ricardo Montalban to the role of the title character after some 15 years since he played it in the classic series episode 'Space Seed'. He is sensational, this person Khan is without a doubt the finest guest character to ever appear in Star Trek and that includes all the various series and films, he is magnetic, insane, funny and just plain evil but it's all done with a twinkle in the eye. Montalban's performance deserved an academy award and he overshadows every other aspect of the film including the death of Spock.

The death of Spock was meant to be just that, gone, finito, finished as Leonard Nimoy himself has said TWOK was originally slated to be the final Star Trek movie and it was decided that Spock should go out in a blaze of glory, but the decision to continue added to the fact that Nimoy had started to enjoy himself resulted in a rethink that led to the mind meld with Doctor McCoy that laid the threads for his return and I'm glad that he did return, the original Star Trek without Spock is unthinkable.

My dislike of shoot-em-ups does not prevent me from enjoying them if they are relevant to the plot rather than just there to provide some action, and here thankfully it is, the battle between the Enterprise and the Reliant is wonderfully tenseful material and provides a gripping finale. But the one major omission is that Kirk And Khan do not have a face to face cofrontation except of viewscreens, and in the battle between two arch enemies it is perhaps expected that they do meet at some point and the film suffers for the anticipation of a meeting/fight that never comes.

TWOK is not as good as The Motion Picture (although it seems that I am in the minority there) but for Ricardo Montalban's performance alone it is still a very, very fine film indeed and set up the future of the Star Trek Franchise.

The Best Trek Film - Period
Review date: 2007-02-04 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is the best Star Trek film there is, bar none. If you're not especially a Star Trek fan and just want a decent science fiction film to watch to kill some time, get this.

This is what it should be about - action, excitement (the Enterprise is finished, but no, our shields are dropping!), revenge, a really good bad guy played very well by Ricardo Montalban, no overly complicated meaning of life plots, great music by a then unknown James Horner, two ships slugging it out Horatio Hornblower style (and James Horner creates that atmosphere), bluff and counter bluff etc. etc. The only other two films in the series that match it in any small way is The Search for Spock when they steal the Enterprise and The Undiscovered Country with the whole battle scene at the end.

Apparently, the difference between the budget for the first terribly slow film and this was like night and day. Honestly, with this film you couldn't tell that they had spent that much less on special effects, which should have been a lesson to them and other science fiction films.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Merritt Butrick
Paul Winfield
William Shatner
Bibi Besch
Judson Scott

Creators:
William Shatner (Primary Contributor)
Bibi Besch (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437820136
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Subtitled,
Release date: 2002-11-18
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 108 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1982
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)
Language: German (Dubbed)

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